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Streetcar Line
Simply Christmas
Celebrating no great new insights.
Sometimes it’s easy to strive too hard to find new meanings in the old familiar Christmas story. The symbology is in some senses profound but also so obvious, and in some ways so simple, that it can seem hackneyed, especially in our modern, jaded world. The impulse is either to give mere lip service to the Christmas message or, for those with a different cast of mind, to try to complicate it in search of some great new insight.
In the latter frame of mind, I found myself writing this, based on a visit on location earlier this month….
In an 1100-year-old church in Basel, Switzerland lies the tomb of Desiderius Erasmus, a sage of the ages, described on his tombstone as “incomparable in every discipline; kind, and erudite….” The great “Christian humanist” of the 16th Century labored for decades to reform the Catholic Church without open schism, to find common ground rather than sow discord, to promote learning and piety but not disputatious scholasticism or pietistic exuberance. The church itself, a former cathedral, is stunningly beautiful but dark and dim, whispering its centuries of sanctity through every reverent piece of woodwork or engraving….
Bosh. Blind alley. Never mind the lovely Christmas festival occurring right outside the Basel Münster that was supposed to serve as a thematic bridge between Erasmus and new insights on the theology of Christmas. This ponderous theme was going nowhere.
Trying another approach….
Seven years after being given up for dead, the city of New Orleans is thriving. Its restaurants are full, its public schools are vastly improved, its streets are clean, and its economy for three straight quarters has been the most rapidly expansive in the country. On Wednesday night on the edge of the Garden District in this reborn city, at the Trinity Episcopal School Festival of Lessons and Carols, some 320 students celebrated the anniversary of another birth in a time of trial…..
Oh, please. Trite, forced, maudlin, bathetic. Cue up the “mists of time” and the encomiums to “sacred mysteries,” and leave no cliché unvisited. Trinity sixth graders could produce prose more incisive than that.
So then the next approach was about how not even the tornado that whipped through part of Mobile, Alabama on Thursday morning can kill the spirit of Christmas…. Or maybe it should be about how the collapse of “fiscal cliff” discussions in Washington shows the evanescence of human institutions in comparison with the permanence of the Love introduced to the world in a manger….
Stuff and nonsense. Tommyrot. Cotton candy. (At this point, Charlie Brown asks if anybody can tell him the true meaning of Christmas. The Grinch hears the singing from Who-Ville even after he has stolen all his presents. The Misfit Toys on their island start sniffling that another Christmas is about to pass them by….) Dime-store windows have deeper meanings than such treacle.
So then it’s back to Erasmus. Surely he wrote something insightful about the Nativity, right? In all his disputations with Martin Luther, in all his communications with his dear friend St. Thomas More, in all his homiletics or satire or theologizing, surely the great Church apologist propounded some great analysis of the Virgin, the stable, the shepherds, or the Magi.
Alas, the tomes on a college theology major’s bookshelf produce no such Erasmian wisdom. Nor do hours of Internet searches. The 16th century didn’t feature widespread celebration of Santa Claus or Macy’s, and Christmas wasn’t exactly at the center of cultural or theological life. Easter, yes. Resurrection, yes. Sin, perdition, sacraments, salvation, redemption: Of course. But Christmas wasn’t a particularly huge focus, one famous sermon by Erasmus’ erstwhile sparring partner Luther notwithstanding.
But… but… but Erasmus did write this, in his famous Paraclesis, which was his preface to a new edition of the Bible:
Why do we not all ponder within ourselves that this must be a new and wonderful kind of philosophy since, in order to transmit it to mortals, He who was God became man, He who was immortal became mortal, He who was in the heart of the Father descended to Earth? It must be a great matter, and in no sense a commonplace one, whatever it is, because that wondrous Author came to teach after so many families of distinguished philosophers, after so many remarkable prophets.… The mysteries of kings, perhaps, are better concealed, but Christ wishes his mysteries published as openly as possible.
So it is a “great matter” which we are blessed to be taught, but one that should be “published as openly as possible.”
And what is the nature of this “great matter”? Well, wrote Erasmus, it is in the life of Christ himself, and the imitative life of all who would follow him, to behave in such a way that “riches should be disdained, that the Christian should not put his trust in the supports of this world but must rely entirely on heaven… [that] those who mourn are blessed and should not be deplored, and that death should even be desired by the devout, since it is nothing other than a passage to immortality. And if anyone under the inspiration of the spirit of Christ preaches this kind of doctrine, inculcates it, exhorts, incites, and encourages men to it, he is truly a theologian, even if he should be a common laborer or weaver.”
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
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Joellen| 12.24.12 @ 8:31AM
Yes, how wise to keep it in its most simplest form, to announce and celebrate the birth of the Son of GOD. To confirm that HE brought with HIM, true peace, hope and love. To every year remember at this time and at Easter, that we have been saved by HIS BLOOD alone, is truly the Christmas story that never, ever grows old nor stale. To remember at our lowest times, and for many of us, this year was pretty low, we have only to look up - for the Son of GOD is with us, walks with us, and HE himself said, HE will never abandon us. How wonderful and mighty is HE.
This season is the season of Miracles - may GOD bless us with restoration in true faith in these times and in for generations to come.
SUBVET| 12.24.12 @ 11:43AM
Living without GOD is like a dull pencil "no point".
H. T.| 12.24.12 @ 12:52PM
"Religion" by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906):
I am no priest of crooks nor creeds,
For human wants and human needs
Are more to me than prophets’ deeds;
And human tears and human cares
Affect me more than human prayers.
Go, cease your wail, lugubrious saint!
You fret high Heaven with your plaint.
Is this the “Christian’s joy” you paint?
Is this the Christian’s boasted bliss?
Avails your faith no more than this?
Take up your arms, come out with me,
Let Heav’n alone; humanity
Needs more and Heaven less from thee.
With pity for mankind look ‘round;
Help them to rise—and Heaven is found.
Von Mises Jr| 12.24.12 @ 9:35AM
About 76% of all Americans or about 210M people will experience Christ and the greatness of His America today and tomorrow. Approximately 3% of the current world population will have this honor and privilege.
I would strongly recommend Hillsdale College online free course on "Western Civilization." It takes one thought Jerusalem and Athens, Rome and early Christianity to the ideas of Locke that helped found this great country.
One cannot appreciate what one has unless he grasps what it is. Our Declaration, Constitution, DC Memorials and even our money is dedicated to the God of Jerusalem. We should not only praise Him today, but we should understand the blessings and Grace He has bestowed upon us.
There is a war on religion and the Catholic Church for a reason. It is because our God and our way of life are connected. Many in this world do not have that freedom and blessing.
Rhoetus| 12.24.12 @ 8:12PM
Von, I haven't taken a Western Civ course in 25 years and would indeed be interested in Hillsdale's offering. Thanks!
RJ| 12.25.12 @ 12:13AM
I thought the lecture on Christianity was very good, as was Lecture 10 on the Glorious Revolution. I agree that our heritage of liberty and respect for life is being lost because too many in our society have not learned it. Hillsdale is doing more than its share to address this problem. God Bless them and Merry Christmas, my friend and to all of the AS commentators.
Von Mises Jr| 12.25.12 @ 9:21AM
If you want to read a great book about the Glorious Revolution, get hold of Michael Barone's "Our First Revolution." It really gets into the Popery Laws, Test Acts and all the reasons why there is such animosity between Irish Catholics, Anglicans and Scot Presbyterian British descendents, and it is a neat time in history following Cromwell, the reinstatement of the Stuart Monarchy that ends with William invading from the United Provinces.
RJ| 12.25.12 @ 11:50AM
Thanks, VM. I will look into it. Merry Christmas and here is to a better year in 2013.
Al Adab| 12.24.12 @ 10:31AM
One must first follow before one sees Him face to face.
May the Babe bring you both Jr and Joellen, the very greatest blessings of the year. Thank you both for your contributions throughout these many months.
Joellen| 12.24.12 @ 10:46AM
Al Adab, I have learned much from you, Von, TLP, CJW, Albert and all who share our love of GOD, Country and Man. Thank you and trust me I have already been Blessed by our Savior, as I believe you have too!
H. T.| 12.24.12 @ 2:12PM
TLP shares your love of God?
TLP, the obscene, hateful poster, whose every other word is a profanity. TLP, who indicates in one of his vile postings that he would celebrate our president's assassination?
If TLP "loves God," he must "love" the angry, vengeful, blood-thirsty, hate-filled god of the bible--the one especially celebrated in the old testament.
Now I know for sure that you all-- every one of you-- are nuts!
Appleby| 12.27.12 @ 11:47AM
There are still plenty of us folks who believe that vulgar language is the last refuge of the man with no arguments left...and three year olds with the wrong kind of parents that laugh when Junior comes out with the adult version of Poo Poo Head. If you have ever read any of the arguments the First Congressmen of the USA had, you can learn a lot more creative ways to insult people than by using the same two words over and over again. And if your parents were Christian, you won't use those two words at all.
Occam's Tool| 12.24.12 @ 4:17PM
TLP is quite religious, HT. When faced with Liberal idiocy and stupidity, sometimes vulgar language is the only proper way to describe what you see.
By the way, HT, do tell me of any secular humanist societies that have birth rates that are at replacement or above, OK? Atheism is an anti-survival trait, like homosexuality.
G-d Bless, Joellen, and take care.
H. T.| 12.24.12 @ 5:17PM
I agree.
Stupid people think "vulgar language is the only proper way to describe what you see."
Anyway, it's folks like you who are destroying the Republican party. So keep talking. The wilder the rhetoric, the surer you are to lose again at the polls.
I left the GOP when the unhinged Tea Partiers took over.
Rhoetus| 12.24.12 @ 8:14PM
Without the Tea Party the GOP is weak and as worthless as Bob Dole was impotent.
Appleby| 12.27.12 @ 11:48AM
That is true. And the first one to use one of the Two Vulgar Words Kiddies Cannot Live Without is the loser.
C. Vernon Crisler | 12.24.12 @ 6:24PM
I don't particularly care for Erasmus's idea of going for simplicity. Occam [not our Occam] notwithstanding, truth can be complex, witness the development of the creeds. Sheer Christianity is the way of the Social Gospel, or of the no-creed-but-Christ crowd, or perhaps of the Marcionites who preach a New Testament good God vis-à-vis an Old Testament bad God.
Personally, I think Erasmus was going for simplicity because he saw it as a way out of all the disputes of the day. And why was he concerned about that? Because he was an academic. Academics prefer moderate discussion, scholarship, non-polemical exchanges -- at least as an ideal, if not always a reality.
But in Erasmus's day, you could be put to death if you opposed medievalism. How can you have a reasoned discussion with those who consider themselves the arbiters of truth and falsehood, who have the power of life or death over you? They regard themselves as above discussion, as the settler of all disputes. Hence, polemics and complexity are the only way to respond to such antagonists, which is why Erasmus, who did so much to bring about the Reformation, never could join it.
John786| 12.24.12 @ 6:47PM
A merry Christmas and a happy new year to all. In the Quran muslim's read that God sent the angels to Mary:
"When the angels said: O Mary, surely God gives you good news with a Word from Him of one whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near to God. And he shall speak to the people when in the cradle and when of old age, and he shall be one of the good ones." Quran 3:45-46
The Quran has only one chapter named after a woman; Chapter 19 is titled "Mary", or as it is translated in Arabic -- Maryam. The Quran tells us that the infant Jesus, (Isa), spoke from Mary's arms:
"...He said: Surely I am a servant of God; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; And He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and charity so long as I live; And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die (-after the second coming!), and on the day I am raised to life.'" Quran 19:30-33
While Muslims don't celebrate Christmas, we believe in the awesome and miraculous birth of Jesus ( pbuh), in the miracles he performed by God's Grace, and in the message of love and peace Jesus brought to the world.
A merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone.
Stormzeye| 12.24.12 @ 9:15PM
Then tell your co-religionists to stop slaughtering our people. Hypocrite!
Al Adab| 12.26.12 @ 10:47AM
John,
Greetings to you my friend. I trust that, immersed as you are in American culture, you and your family enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Day. Remember John, "Wise men still seek Him".
Rhoetus| 12.24.12 @ 8:15PM
Merry Christmas.